quoll

It all depends on whether you are going to dream on or live in the real world and what does your "better life" look like? Can it really be better than having a nice wide circle of friends and relatives, living in a nice house in a nice place and having a good job? If you have an offer too good to refuse then of course, dont refuse it but work out whether you are prepared to gamble and lose all that you now have on the back of some ephemeral "grass is greener" type expectation that Australia is going to be utopia on a stick. The weather aint all it is cracked up to be either - living and working in the heat can be worse than living and working in the cold, at least you can rug up.

slapphead_otool

Im not sure I buy the heat thing.

Maybe its just me. Im living slap bang on the equator. I only have the fan on in my bedroom, and the windows open in my car. I don't have aircon at my office ( a relic of the colonial British past). I don't wear a jacket and tie, but Im not collapsing from the heat.

I go out for a walk on saturdays and sunday. Probably 5 km out and the same back, and visit local shops and villages. They don't have aircon or fans.

I think we tend to be too "nanny state" about the temperature in Australia. I never bother with aircon in Sydney, I don't drive a car and there is no aircon in the trains or buses.

You soon acclimatise if you give up on the aircon, and if you wear a hat and long sleeved shirts and long pants you wont burn.

chris955

Again it is down to the individual, I have lived in Queensland for 11 years and still hate the oppressive humidity and I am not acclimated to it.
I cope with cold much better than I do heat, others are the reverse.

Reaver

I too am hoping to live the dream. The first thing I realized was that, at 36, I needed to maximise my value, so Im doing a degree in engineering. My wife, following my lead is doing a degree in nursing. That way, even if it doesnt pan out, we could still have a better life here.

The next thing I did was check the visa situation, and thats what I would urge you to do before anything else. Its no good firing yourself up for emigration, only to find you dont qualify to get into the country.

slapphead_otool

I understand Chris, but remember that Queensland was populated by Westerners at least 100 years before air conditioning, when most work was done outside, most people walked and life was a bit tougher.

People survived than, and they survive now.

I served in the Australian Army - its bloody hot at places like the Jungle warfare school at Canungra, but everyone does it. Again, people survive it.

I saw kids today playing football in bare feet on red hot tarmac. They were used to it.

A season without aircon and you would be ok.

tabbys

HI there. we are going through the same but a bit further on. We have been thinking of going for years and had such a fantastic visit there last year that we decided to go for a visa. Cut a long story short, my husband sat the IELTS test and now going for state sponsorship (prob WA). There are probably sooo many people like us that change there thoughts day to day, one great day spent with family and friends makes you want to stay, but a gloomy grey sky and the kids inside watching tv in the summer makes you want to jump on a plane. However, the way we think about it now is that my husband is 40 next year, if we dont go for it now, the chances of getting a visa after that are pretty slim so we might as well give it a go. Whats the worse that can happen......you come 'home' if it doesn't work out but at least you've tried.

BadgeIsBack

You're right.

In London in summer, I used to wish I had AC stuck in traffic.

Often I will jump in to a car, and hint that we turn on the AC - yet many people I know refuse to put it on almost out of principle. It's me that's the big girl's blouse on these occasions.

BadgeIsBack

As for the OP - and dreaming.

It's possible but you have the probabilities stacked against you due to the expense and the less capital you might enjoy compared to those who came out 5 years+ ago.

You have to be very clear about the person you are, and if you can get the life you want - and can sustain. In one scenario you could do well, but based on my experience of this forum and migrants, self-confessed dreamers don't always do so well, infact it's hard enough for those with realistic expectations.

I reckon you have to have very niche requirements and the will and [life] experience to back them to do well in Australia.

Living in a suburb in a big house with a movie theatre and a few cold ones is not so dreamlike once the novelty wears off. Have a look at the people on the Moving Back to the UK forum who started out with dreams. They are now ensconsced back in Blighty with their old lives - and thankful their dreams are what they always were - a visit to the supermarket here, a walk with the dog there.

Japonica

To the OP: You've got a lot of work ahead of you, a lot to research, so if you're serious, you'd better get cracking...Are you eligible for a visa? Which one? And keep in mind that some, like the skilled 175 we migrated with, have upper age limits.

You also have to consider how migrating so far away will impact your family: leaving behind extended family and friends. I know many of us who led hectic lives in our home country and didn't see family or good friends but once a month or something think, "Well, it's not that big a deal then, migrating." But that was a lot more often than you'll see them once you make the move. And if you have elderly parents, you'll want to consider that aspect as well.

Airfares are expensive, especially for dragging a whole family back and forth for visits, so despite what you might tell yourself, you'd won't always be able to visit back home as often as you'd like.

And there's the cost of living, real estate prices, all that stuff. What would your financial implications be? Think shipping costs, relocating, household set up costs, savings to tide you over until you start working...and what you'll lose through exchange rates.

It's not all beaches and great weather. You have to look at it realistically, in a cold, hard light. We're here two years next month. It agrees with us for the most part. We're settled and we like our lives here (aside from the freezing winters like Dorothy mentioned, at least our house in Canada had heat in winter). But we're also having to deal with aging parents and extended family health problems from overseas, which adds a lot of stress.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

jad n rich

Its not a dream its just life, work, school, housework and bills in another country.

Same things bog people off in OZ as they do in the UK, govt, healthcare, cost of living and weather included.

Give it a go, for the experience, if family and finances are no matter to you.

jad n rich

Before I came here I loved heat. Now I just dread the bloody summer. Not just in qld, I cant stand the hot, dry, fly ridden states either.

I never acclimatised, many people dont. Plus the UV levels are a real issue

BadgeIsBack

I ask people, where do they get this 'living the dream' from? Is it from watching the box? Relocation shows? Talking to people? Stereotypical Australian lives? What are people's actual sum total experience of Australia outside Neighbours and Home and Away...is it even summer holidays in Spain or in the Med? (Must be a factor?) I'm curious.

You're right about the visa situation etc. When I first looked in to living in Australia, it was to pursue very, very specific interests...starting with a gap year...I still remember the options open to me...never a dream.

The very first thing I did was to check wages and salary levels, then rent in Capital Cities - and this was before a working holiday...least of all migration. I remember doing this like it was yesterday - even though it was 10 years ago! If these were a non-starter, the whole thing might have been dead in the water.

As for paying bills and doing normal stuff - it's the stuff in addition to this a prospective migrant plans to do (whether new or based on older experiences) that make it worthwhile. So if your dream is 30 acres in the Hunter Valley, or getting out on a boat on the Sunshine Coast, or 'downsizing' from London to Melbourne then it's worth doing. If people want to transport one life to another then it might be riskier.

deb68

We came here to start again, no dreams just the idea of starting again from scratch. We realised soon as we landed that it was totally different to what we had been lead to believe by watching TV shows back in blighty about here. It is a lovely country full of weird and wonderful people,places and creatures, but the cost of things is the biggest shock.
You do learn to shop smart rather quickly, if you don't you start to loose weight seriously, life here is slower in a lot of respects which we find pleasing, but the work ethic is one of up early home early and enjoy life, great i hear you say, and it is for the most part but if you waver in the travelling to and from said work, sitting in horrible tailbacks on freeways for ages every day, in the heat in summer and the freezing cold in winter good then come over and join the rat race.
We are moving house soon and need to start looking for a new rental, we need to move closer to work for O/H as he is so depressed with the mileage he as already done since starting work two months ago, it is scary when you realise the mileage you do cover.
But you have to accept it, it is the norm here.
We are happier here even with all the extra costs, and life was cheaper back in the UK for us as we both had well paid jobs, now we have good paid jobs with higher living expenses, so you will have to weigh up the pros and cons yourself.

slapphead_otool

You may was well dream of a better Wife in Oz.

You wont find one though.....

Reaver

Always amusing when somebody questions somebody elses dream.

For me living the dream is simply getting out of the UK, and moving somewhere different. Do I expect it to be perfect, hell no, but I expect it to be better. Not because life is any better in another country than it is here, but simply because its different. As for experience personally, I spent 6 weeks in Aus when I was young, and last year my uncle who was born here and has spent his entire life in Aus came over to see his sister, and us. Their opinion is that we would be better off in Aus.

My wifes family has lived in the same area (within a 5 mile radius) for the last 400 years. My own mother has lived in the same town since I was a child. What a very boring way to live your life. I have 4 kids, and I want to show them what the world has to offer, so when they make choices within their lives they make them with an informed opinion. So for me, living the dream isnt some perfect idealistic lifestyle for others to criticise, but rather its a desire to leave this country, which IMHO, is going down the pan.

In conclusion, you people that have emigrated have come to face the harsh reality of moving to another country, you've seen the bad alongside the good, but before you criticise peoples "dream", try to remember that you too once felt like we did. That this was once your dream too, and you made it a reality. That the country you left felt bad enough for you leave, and despite how bad the country your now living in is, some of you are still there. This forum is home to a lot of people. From those that dream and never get the chance, to those that have left the UK, return to the UK, left the UK again, returned to the UK again, and now want to leave the UK yet again. Life is different for everyone, and people shouldnt be criticised for wanting to try something different or for having a dream.

Peace.

.